For more than a year, Tamar Davis Galper wasn’t sure if her cousin had been killed in Israel or was living as a hostage under Hamas.
It took more than 400 days into the Israel-Hamas war for Davis Galper and her relatives to learn that her cousin, IDF soldier and American citizen Omer Neutra, had been killed during the attacks and his body taken by Hamas.
“These are my cousins, and they deserve to have Omer back home and have a proper burial and be able to mourn him,” said Davis Galper, of Brookline.
Davis Galper is among many Greater Boston residents grappling with a swirl of emotions this week at the idea that the violence and horror of the war in Gaza could soon come to an end. Israel and Hamas agreed to pause fighting in Gaza and release hostages and Palestinian prisoners, but many of the details of the deal were not immediately announced.
“It all feels rather surreal,” said Rabbi Keith Stern, 71, the senior rabbi at Temple Beth Avodah in Newton. “I’ve been burned too many times to allow myself an unrestrained sense of joy.”
If the peace deal doesn’t go through, Davis Galper said, her family has “no choice” but to continue fighting for the release of all hostages, living and dead.
“Nothing’s going to give us these two years back and nothing’s going to give us Omer back alive,” she said.
Sammy S. Nabulsi, a Palestinian American lawyer based in Dorchester, said he was overjoyed at videos of people celebrating in Gaza. But concerns about the details of the cease-fire agreement and what it means for Palestinians occupied his mind.
“I’m very happy if it’s real,” he said. “I gotta see it to believe it, so I’m in a little bit of a purgatory when it comes to my emotions.”
Uncertainty remains about some of the thornier aspects of the plan advanced by President Trump, such as whether and how Hamas will disarm, and who will govern Gaza.
Some Greater Boston residents were also mourning friends and family they lost in the conflict, as well as deaths of those who’ve they’ve learned about through community gatherings, places of worship, on social media, and in the news. Some questioned whether peace would last if a deal goes through considering the history of conflict in the region.
Stern, the Temple Beth Avodah rabbi, said his early morning conversations Wednesday with friends in Israel were full of tears both of joy at the news and sorrow about the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost.
“When one does the calculus on it all, it is just breathtakingly sad,” he said. “This war has completely ripped apart the soul of the Jewish people throughout the world, and specifically in Israel.”
Karameh Kuemmerle, 55, whose family is from Nablus in the West Bank, said a cease-fire is a “much-desired outcome” that she hopes will be permanent.
Kuemmerle cofounded the group Doctors Against Genocide, a coalition of medical professionals advocating for humanitarian support in Gaza, and said she is in daily contact with physicians and medical students in Gaza. Her first concerns are about the introduction of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“I’m relieved, but I can’t be happy because I realize the loss,” said Kuemmerle, a pediatric neurologist in Boston.
In the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war, Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians. Most of the hostages have been released in cease-fires or other deals.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll has exceeded 67,000 people. The ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the deaths were women and children, is part of the Hamas-run government. The United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
As part of the cease-fire deal, Hamas has agreed to release the remaining 48 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Rabbi Marc Baker, CEO and president of Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, a group dedicated to strengthening Jewish life, said the hostages’ return means the Jewish community can begin to repair itself.
“The idea of them finally coming home feels like we can finally begin to actually properly grieve and begin to move forward,” he said.
If the hostages are released, Baker said, their return will be fraught and emotional, especially for Boston Jews with direct connections.
“We’re going to have to navigate all of those emotions together as a community, with our Israeli brothers and sisters,” he said.
Fatima Razzaq, 36, operations director of the Boston Palestine Film Festival, said that while a peace deal is the immediate goal, she doesn’t believe it will last without “the Palestinian people gaining their freedom, sovereignty, and self-determination.”
Razzaq, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Palestine, said the celebrations of Palestinians in Gaza that she’s seeing on social media are a sign that people there share hope that the fighting will end.
“If anyone would be skeptical, it would be the Palestinian people on the ground,” she said.
Sadaf Tokhi of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Material from the Associated Press was used.
Katie Muchnick can be reached at katie.muchnick@globe.com. Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at brian.macquarrie@globe.com.